Until The Day I Die
by BettyHall223
Summary: Sam is having doubts about her relationship with Jack.


_Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are not my property. No copyright infringement is intended._

It was still dark as a taxi came to a stop in Alexandria, Virginia. After paying the driver, Sam stepped out of the car with her overnight bag. The taxi drove away and she suddenly found herself standing alone in the cool air, staring at Jack's townhouse across the street as a misty rain dampened her hair.

A nearby street light flickered as lightning flashed and thunder rolled across the sky.

A light was on inside Jack's home and her eyes grew wide when she saw his silhouette as he walked past the window.

They had started seeing each other a few months ago when she began her assignment at Area 51 and he had been promoted to his new position in D.C. Although their time together was limited to weekends, they were always eager to spend whatever time they could have at his place in Washington or hers in Nevada.

Tears filled her eyes as she remembered what had happened last night.

_She had been awakened early yesterday morning to the sound of someone ringing her doorbell. Getting out of bed, she put on her robe as she headed to the door to see who it was._

_She opened the door and there stood Jack, leaning against the doorframe. Looking her up and down, he started to grin._

"_Nice hair, Carter."_

_She raised her hand to her head, realizing her hair was sticking up in different directions._

"_I need to give you a key, Jack. Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I thought you were going to be busy with the Joint Chiefs this weekend."_

_Picking up his bag, he quickly kissed her cheek, walked past her and into her house as she closed the door._

_Turning around to face her, he set down his bag. "The meeting got postponed so I thought I'd surprise you. One of the perks of knowing the president is that I can get a plane anytime I want one. So, got any coffee?"_

_She yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Uh . . . I think so."_

_Jack turned to go into the kitchen. "You apparently need some."_

_She folded her arms over her chest. "I need sleep even more but since you woke me up, I don't guess that'll happen."_

_Jack turned back around. "Well, if you don't want me here, I'll just leave and you can go back to bed."_

_Picking up his bag, he started to the door but Sam quickly stepped in front of him._

"_I'm sorry. I didn't get home until late and I'm sleepy and tired and just surprised that you're here when I didn't expect you."_

_Putting her arms around his neck, she gave him a kiss._

_Jack dropped his bag and placed his hands on either side of her head and gently kissed her._

_She smiled. "Kissing you is the perfect way to start my weekend."_

_Jack grinned. "I agree. I thought I'd show up early and we can spend the day together before I take you out to eat tonight. I made dinner reservations for us before I left Washington."_

_She smiled. "Dinner reservations. That's a nice surprise. You're sweet, Jack O'Neill. Do you know that?"_

_Jack grinned and winked. "Yeahsureyoubetcha."_

_She shook her head and laughed._

_Coming into the house that evening after they had been out to eat, she went into her bedroom to change from her dress and high heels into slacks and a blouse. As she came back into the living room, she noticed that Jack had taken off his jacket and tie and soft music was playing. He held out his hand and pulled her into his embrace. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as they slowly swayed back and forth._

_As the song ended, Jack dropped his arms from her and reached into his pocket. Her eyes grew wide as Jack opened his hand to reveal a tiny black velvet box. He opened the box and she stared at the ring inside._

_Jack took her hand as he looked into her eyes._

"_I'm in love with you, Samantha. Will you marry me?"_

_Sam looked back at the ring and didn't say a word._

_Several seconds passed as Jack stared at her. "Uh . . . Sam . . . an answer would be nice."_

"_It's just . . . that I . . . I wasn't . . . expecting this" she whispered._

_Jack frowned. "Sam, we've known each other all these years and we've been dating a while now. Don't you think it's time that we finally make a commitment to each other?"_

_Sam put her hand to her chest as she looked at the ring again. "Jack, I . . . "_

_Sam looked up into Jack's face and could see his expression change. He quickly snapped the box shut and put it back in his pocket._

"_I guess I have my answer."_

_Quickly gathering his things, he headed to the door as she went after him._

"_Please, Jack, don't go. Can't we talk about this?"_

_Jack turned to face her. "There's nothing to talk about, Sam. After all this time, I thought you'd be eager to get married but I guess I was wrong. Apparently, I'm not the man you want to spend the rest of your life with."_

_As he headed to the door, Sam followed and put her hand on his forearm._

"_Please stay."_

_Pulling his arm from her grasp, he opened the door and went down the steps of her house as she followed._

"_Jack, please don't go!"_

_Jack opened the back door of the rental car and threw everything on the seat. Without looking at her, he got inside, started the car and hurriedly drove away. After watching the car disappear down the street, she went back inside and closed the door. Leaning against the wall, she sank to the floor, covered her face with her hands and began to sob._

"_I do want to marry you, Jack" she said out loud._

_Minutes passed before she pushed herself off the floor. She knew she could not let him walk out of her life. She had to make him understand what she was feeling._

_Thinking that Jack was probably on his way back to his plane, she ran to her cell phone. Pressing his number on speed dial, she waited for him to answer but was not surprised when he didn't pick up._

_Logging onto her computer, she checked to see when the next flight would be leaving for D.C. and reserved a seat._

_Quickly packing a bag, she hurried out the door._

_After going through airport security, she boarded the plane and four hours later, the plane touched down at Reagan National Airport._

_The closer the taxi came to Jack's place, the more nervous she became, fearing that Jack would never speak to her again._

So now here she stood in the dark with tears in her eyes, staring at his front door.

Finding the courage to move, she crossed the street and climbed the steps. Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell.

Not getting an answer, she waited several seconds and tried again.

A porch light suddenly came on above her head, the door opened and there stood Jack. He could see that her eyes were red from crying.

"Please don't slam the door in my face."

"What are you doing here, Carter? I don't think we have anything to say to each other. You made it abundantly clear that you don't want to marry me."

"But I do" she answered as she choked back tears and Jack stared at her. Sam could feel herself holding her breath as she waited to see what he would do.

Jack finally stood back to let her come inside.

Sam tried to control her emotions as she put her bag and purse on the floor. She wiped her eyes as she followed Jack into his living room.

He turned to face her, put his hands in his pockets and didn't say a word.

"I do want to marry you, Jack."

"Could've fooled me."

"Will you please let me explain?"

Jack hesitated for a moment before motioning for her to take a seat. She sat down on one end of the sofa and he sat on the other.

Sam clasped her hands together and stared at the floor. "I'm afraid."

Jack frowned. "Afraid of what?"

"Afraid of losing you."

"Losing me how?"

Sam took a deep breath as she tried not to cry. "I know I come across as this woman who has it all together. I have a great life, a good job and good friends. But where you're concerned, I'm not always sure of myself. I notice how other women look at you, Jack. You're very handsome and women find you attractive. I'm afraid some other woman will come along and take you away from me. Losing the only man I've ever really loved would tear me apart."

Jack moved closer to her. "Look at me."

Sam hesitated for a moment before turning her head and looking into his eyes.

"Why would you think I'd ever be the least bit interested in another woman?"

"Well, you did get involved with Kerry Johnson."

"Only because I thought you wanted to marry Pete. Kerry figured out that I was in love with you and she broke it off."

"Laira was crazy about you. I could see that from the moment we met her."

"She was a nice woman, Sam."

"Did you love her?"

"If I had gotten stuck there forever, I could have, but not a day went by that I didn't think about you."

"When we rescued you, I heard you tell Laira you didn't want to go home."

Jack sighed. "I guess I was starting to like the simple life they had there but you don't know how excited and relieved I felt when Teal'c made it through. I chose to come home instead of staying there and, if you remember, I didn't go back to see Laira because I really didn't want to. My life is here."

Sam looked down at her hands. "Daniel told me that Anise made a pass at you."

Jack put his hands to his cheeks and groaned. "Daniel should have kept his mouth shut. Yes, Anise was attractive, but she's two different people, for cryin' out loud. No offense against your Dad, Sam, but that whole snake-in-the-head thing just freaked me out. Do you really think I could love someone like her?"

"I guess not, but it made me jealous just the same."

"I've been attracted to you since the day we met. You are beautiful and sweet and kind. You're everything I've ever wanted, and yes, our age difference has bothered me a little. But when we finally started dating, I quickly realized that I'm positive I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I was hoping you felt the same way."

Jack paused for a moment. "What brought all this on? I've never known you to be insecure about anything."

Sam shrugged. "I guess I think you'll get tired of me and you'll want someone more exciting, someone who likes hockey and The Simpsons and someone who isn't going to bore you to death with technobabble."

Jack smiled. "Your intelligence is one of the things I love about you. Although your technobabble is usually way over my head, I love the excited look you get on your face when you try to explain something alien to me. Yes, we do have different interests and we're not always going to like what the other one likes, but that's okay, we also have things in common."

Sam wiped her cheeks. "Like what?"

"We like the Air Force. We both love to pilot airplanes. We both like to gaze at the stars through a telescope. We like visiting other planets and meeting other races. We have the same values. We laugh at the same things. I like telling you corny jokes just to hear you giggle. We would rather eat pizza and watch a movie together at home instead of going out. We like to hold hands when we cuddle on the sofa. We enjoy the same foods. We both like kids and dogs. We like the same kind of music. We like listening to each other's opinions on different subjects, even when we disagree. We enjoy each other's company. And, most important of all, Sam, we trust each other unconditionally."

"That's true" Sam whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.

"Oh" Jack said excitedly ". . . and one more thing."

"What's that?"

"We both love to tease Daniel."

Sam chuckled as she wiped her eyes. "Yeah, you're right about that."

Jack looked away and back at Sam. "I must admit there have been times I've felt insecure too. I've watched men at the SGC stare at you and flirt with you. Men all over the galaxy can't take their eyes off you when we step onto a new planet. You don't know how many times I've just wanted to punch them in the nose."

Sam put her hand to her mouth and giggled.

Jack smiled but his expression turned serious. "It hurt when you got engaged to Pete. I thought I'd really lost whatever chance I might have had with you."

Sam put her hand on Jack's. "I'm sorry. Pete was a total mistake."

Jack took Sam's hands in his. "After Pete and Kerry and Laira and every other person who has ever been interested in either of us, we always gravitate back to each other. We know that we belong together, Sam. I love you. Not Kerry. Not Laira. Certainly not Anise and no one else. If I haven't been interested in any other woman in all the years since we met, why do you think I'd be interested in someone else now? I want to wake up every morning for the rest of my life with you beside me. I want to make love with you until we're both so tired we can't move. I want us to grow old together. I want the whole world to know that I'm madly in love with Samantha Carter. I don't want to marry any other woman in the entire universe. I want to marry you."

Tears ran down Sam's face as she hugged him.

"I love you so much, Jack."

Jack leaned back from her and gently brushed away her tears. "No more doubts about how I feel about you. Okay?"

Sam nodded her head. "Okay."

"Now . . . should I ask you that all important question again or do you want both of us to live the rest of our lives apart and be miserable without each other?"

"I never want to be apart from you."

Jack stood up. "Good. Wait here."

Sam watched as he hurried into another room. She stood up when he returned and she could see that he was holding the tiny box that held the ring. After opening the box, he took her hand.

"So, I'll ask a second time. Samantha Carter, will you be my wife?"

Sam smiled. "Yes. I want to be your wife, Jack, until the day I die."

Jack removed the ring from the box, took her left hand and slid the ring on her finger.

Sam threw her arms around Jack's neck and hugged him tightly. After several seconds, Jack pulled back from Sam and she could see the twinkle in his eyes. "It's a good thing you accepted the ring. I hate to think I wasted all that money."

Sam gently slapped Jack on his arm and giggled as he pulled her into his arms again.

The End


End file.
